Response: Rooms from Versailles to post-Katrina New Orleans

After reading the interview and seeing some of his photographs, I don’t think that Polidori is aestheticizing the settings of catastrophe, although he said that he tries to do so. I think he is just documenting these places, not only for the record, but to show how these catastrophes can affect peoples lives. I think he wants some kind of reaction out of the viewers. Having people in the actual photographs would reveal the kind of emotion one should have just by analyzing the body language and/or facial expressions. When viewed with no people in the photograph, the viewer really had to decide on his/her own if it is negative or positive. This gives the photographs more power. I actually really liked his description of the exoskeleton of peoples lives because it is what they have left behind. These remains are a better way to analyze and interpret the photographs without the need for people. Also, I didn’t agree with others who call him immoral opportunist because he wasn’t staging anything or taking advantage of anyone. He was simply documenting places in a way he sees fit.